The five times Fikile Mbalula channelled the spirit of Chief Wiggum

Two Police Chiefs, two peas in a pod

Now, The Simpsons has proved to be many things over the years; an unparalleled sitcom, a pop-culture anarchist, and most notably, a prophetic warning to future generations. But have they tied Chief Wiggum and Fikile Mbalula together?

If you enjoy a good conspiracy theory, then you’ll already know The Simpsons have predicted many world events that otherwise seemed unfathomable. They called Donald Trump’s rise to power 15 years before it happened, and have even foreseen the events of 9/11 and the Ebola outbreak. The list goes on.

But did they predict something even more incredible? Through lovable yet bumbling Police Chief Clancy Wiggum, the team behind Springfield’s day-to-day mishaps may have actually predicted the career of SA’s own chief extraordinaire, Filike Mbalula.

There have been a few times that life imitated art for our Mbaks. It seems that anything Wiggum can do, Mbalula can do better…

Five times Fikile Mbalula was Chief Wiggum

1 . Inadvertently stopping an illegal activity

During the August 2017 vote of no confidence against Jacob Zuma, all the members of the National Assembly were prepared to cast their vote. Leader of the DA Mmusi Maimane just happened to enter the booth in view of Fikile Mbalula.

Whilst heading to cast his ballot, Maimane was seen using his phone – something an MP cannot do during a vote. Through sheer ‘right place, right time-ism’, Mbalula spotted the infringement and sang like a canary.

It took no actual police work or no discernible skill to catch Mr Maimane. It was pure, unfiltered good luck. Something Chief Wiggum knows all about…

In the season three episode Homer Defined, our Clancy had his penny jar with him, looking to turn those coppers into something a little more rewarding. Oblivious to an ongoing bank robbery, the gunman runs into the table, falls, and is smashed over the head by the Chief’s jar. His response?

“Just doing my job”

2. Endorsing police brutality

There’s been a lot of talk about sending the SANDF into Cape Town’s gang-plagued areas. It’s a sensitive subject, and one that requires a nuanced and rational debate. Especially from the country’s Chief of Police.

So of course, in the last few months, we’ve already heard Mbalula promising to ‘crush the balls of criminals’ and ‘make them shit themselves’. Classy, Flik. Real classy.

This casual thumbs-up for police brutality is straight out of the Wiggum playbook, though. Springfield’s bumbling head honcho revealed what life is really life on the inside for hardened criminals. Or in this case, telemarketing scammers…

“Bread and water, icy showers, guards whomping your ass around the clock. And the only way out… is suicide” – Chief Wiggum, “Lisa’s Date With Density.”

3. When he blew his cover spectacularly

Oh, Mbaks. Remember that you’re meant to be keeping state capture under wraps? Well, all bets were off over Christmas, when Fikile tweeted his warmest wishes for the holidays. He only went and left his location switched on, didn’t he?

Dubai is the epicentre of the Gupta family’s operations. It’s where numerous business and shell companies implied in state capture work from. It has also been touted as the safe haven Jacob Zuma and co will flee to if they ever face criminal charges for selling off the state.

All this ‘dropping people in the shit’ sounds incredibly familiar. It sounds exactly like an incident from season 12’s Trilogy of Error. In arguably the last great episode of The Simpsons’ golden era, Chief Wiggum uses Bart to squeeze information from the mafia. Upon hearing the voice of notorious mobster Fat Tony, Clancy can’t help himself…

It’s fair to say, Fikile doesn’t practice what he likes to preach. It’s obvious that Mbaks classes himself as a fairly well-trimmed, fit and ready representative of the law. We haven’t seen such self delusion since Chief Wiggum shared this pearl of advice with his son Ralph, during season four’s I Love Lisa episode:

5. A lot of wrongful arrests

In a grandiose show of force, Fikile Mbalula triumphantly boasted he and his top officers had busted 10 drug dealers in the Western Cape. Sharing the news through his almost infamous Twitter account, he shared a photo of the accused.

However, Flik got it wrong. Spectacularly wrong. The 10 men they arrested had nothing to do with crime in the province. They were in the area to transport a body for a funeral. It was a positively Wiggum-esque move from our Chief…

It happens to the best in the business though. As Clancy will tell you, sometimes it’s hard to get the perp…

Homer Simpson

Homer was wrongfully arrested during Who Shot Mr Burns? Part Two. Although, when Clancy toppled the police van during a routine drive-thru visit, Homer made his escape before clearing his name.

Krusty the Clown

Right from season one, Chief Wiggum had problems getting the right guy. When Krusty was framed by his own TV sidekick, Sideshow Bob, Clancy bought the whole far-fetched story.

Groundskeeper Willie

He was implicated in a fraudelent trial during season 12’s Grift of the Magi. Wiggum was in on the charade. Shem, it’s tough being the Chief hey?